Daylight Saving Time (DST) is a way of making better use of the natural daylight by setting your clock forward one hour during the summer months, and back again in the fall.

DST starts in Europe Sunday, March 29, 2015

More light in the evening

Sunrise and sunset will be about one hour later on Sunday, March 29, 2015 than the day before, so there will be more light in the evening.

Daylength, Sunrise & Sunset in your city

Image result for spring forward daylight savings 2015

Clocks back or forward?

To remember which way to set your watch, keep in mind “spring forward, fall back”. You set your clock forward in the spring when DST starts (= lose one hour), and back one hour when DST ends in the fall (= regain one hour).

“Spring ahead” and “Spring up”

A different way to remember which direction to set your clock for Daylight Saving Time is that in the spring, you bring out (or forward) the garden furniture (clocks are set 1 hour ahead), and in the fall you put them back (clocks are set 1 hour back).

The expressions “spring ahead” and “spring up” are also used to describe the action of setting clocks one hour ahead for the start of DST in the spring. These terms are mainly used in the USA and Canada.

Business watch and one hundred dollar bill

US founding father Benjamin Franklin suggested waking up earlier to economize candle usage.

American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin wrote an essay called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” to the editor of The Journal of Paris in 1784. In the essay, he suggested, although jokingly, that Parisians could economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning, making use of the natural morning light instead.

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